Mormon Music

Music plays an essential part in Latter-day Saint spiritual lives and the Church encourages its members to fill their homes with appropriate melodies.

The Book of Mormon supports righteous music while acknowledging its potential misuse for ungodly purposes. Recognizing its scriptural roots may help us make informed media choices in today’s culture.

Hymns

Mormon hymns differ significantly from Catholic church liturgy by using specific, local songs in each of their services around the globe. While some use well-known Christian tunes, others contain lyrics which address doctrine unique to their church.

Emma Smith had a revelation in early 1835 to create a hymn book, but due to persecutions and other uprootings was unable to complete this task for some time. Meanwhile, many hymns were published as text only hymnals such as The Evening and Morning Star and other church periodicals; later two unofficial hymnals appeared that began publishing hymns with both music and lyrics.

Songs of Zion was published as a small hymnal in 1909. In 1948, this was replaced with Deseret Sunday School Songbook which used two-staff notation and offered more melodies that were easier to sing, while also sporting a more contemporary cover design. Today the 1985 Latter-day Saint Hymns are considered official church hymnals.

Instrumental Music

Instrumental music refers to musical pieces without vocals. Though there may be small snippets of vocals used in certain genres (such as rock), instrumental pieces tend to consist of instruments. There are numerous methods used to create instrumental pieces.

Many people debate whether an instrumental piece can qualify as a song. Some argue that lyrics must be present to qualify as song; whereas, others believe instrumental music can still convey emotions and messages just as effectively without needing lyrics to convey messages and emotions.

Latter-day Saint musicians have long been at the forefront of creating instrumental music. One popular example is Nashville Tribute Band, comprised of Latter-day Saint country music artists and songwriters from across the church. Since 2007, this band has released multiple albums such as Redeemer (dedicating Jesus Christ to Billboard’s top 10 charts) as well as its annual summer youth camp album produced annually by their church called Especially for Youth (especially designed to reach young listeners).

Lyrics

The Book of Mormon makes frequent mention of singing. It praises Nephites of their golden age for singing after victories or celebrations and also warns against using music for improper reasons.

Elder Price, one of the main characters from The Book of Mormon, works to convince his Ugandan village that Joseph Smith was an exciting new prophet with some Donny Osmond-style charisma. Although Price’s conscience often gets in his way, he remains determined to embrace all aspects of Mormonism no matter how far-fetched or unlikely.

South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker joined with record-setting EGOT winner Robert Lopez to write music and lyrics for The Book of Mormon musical. This Broadway show incorporates Mormon doctrine (of sorts), parodies of other musicals, and original jokes while exploring themes of friendship, faith, and hope that can be universally related regardless of religious beliefs.

Musicians

Mormon musicians come from a wide variety of backgrounds, musical styles and tastes – they may sing or play instruments – yet all share one thing in common: membership with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Madilyn Paige has made her mark on the music industry through YouTube and television show competition, while James Curran (commonly referred to as James the Mormon) brings religious influences into rap music. Both artists participate annually in EFY (Especially For Youth) album series released for summer youth camps.

Some of these artists have even reached the national Billboard charts! Simply click on their first letter name to access their bio page. Furthermore, many have shared tracks, pictures, and videos freely with us; you’ll find these in our music downloads section.